How Many Of You Transport Dcks To Drop Off Or Pick Up Your Own Children From School?

[SunflowerMama]

I don't have any school agers of my own but my own will be starting school in the Fall.

Their school is about 6 miles from my house and about a 15 minute drive.

I'm debating how I'm going to get them to and from school (the school doesn't have buses) with the daycare.

I've decided to open later (8am instead of 7a) so I can drop them off at 7:30a and all the families are going to make it work. Now my concern is pick up at 3:45p. I'm thinking about talking to the parents to see if they would be ok with me taking their children with me to pick up my own children.

Who does this? How many dcks are you transporting? How far is it? Are the parents pretty understanding?

[Soupyszoo]

There's a lot of liability that comes with transporting other's children! I hate to be responsible for someone else's kids if there was an accident and GOD FORBID something tragic happened. I avoid it at all costs and (knock on wood) my husband and I have perfect driving records!

Is there another parent at your child's school that could pick them up and deliver them? Someone that you trust?

Not to mention having all the littles, and what if one or some of the are sleeping? It gets really complicated.

[VTMom]

I transport children (my own and 2 others) to/from preschool. The little ones come with me as well but the teacher is kind enough to meet us at the car so we don't have to bring the whole crew in. The school is just half a mile away and the parents have no problem with it. This arrangement has been in place since I opened though.

Do you know other families who attend the school? Maybe you could arrange it so you could pick up other school kids and drop them off in the morning and their parents bring your children home? A ride share?

Good luck!

[VTMom]

I transport children (my own and 2 others) to/from preschool. The little ones come with me as well but the teacher is kind enough to meet us at the car so we don't have to bring the whole crew in. The school is just half a mile away and the parents have no problem with it. This arrangement has been in place since I opened though.

Do you know other families who attend the school? Maybe you could arrange it so you could pick up other school kids and drop them off in the morning and their parents bring your children home? A ride share?

Good luck!

Forgot to mention that I include this in my contract and I carry additional vehicular insurance for the daycare. I also supply the car seats so I know they're appropriate, not expired or recalled, etc.

[MarinaVanessa]

All of my families sign a consent form for transportation. If you don't sign it, this isn't the DC for you ... it's that simple. I take my DD to school in the morning and I'm back by 8am so the parents know that there are no drop-offs between 7:30 and 8am. I also pick her up from school at 2:30 so no pick ups between 2:30-3pm.

I also have one DCG that's in 1st grade that I pick up at a different school on my way back home from my DD's school on M-W-F.

I personally don't see it as a big thing but I have insurance. All of the kids get loaded into my van and are all either in carseats or boosters depending on their age. I provide the carseats and boosters. The 3rd row in my van holds 3 infant/toddler carseats, the 2nd row holds my DS's infant/toddler seat and two booster seats and if I have 7 kids in the van total then my DD (7yo) sits in a booster in the front seat.

I have a clean DMV record which I get a copy of through my insurance yearly and I never get out of the van unless it's to strap one of the girls into their booster seats. Both my DD and DCG have a designated waiting spot next to the crossing guard where they must come out of the school from and as soon as the crossing guard sees me they'll walk the girl across the street and then they hop in the van. Easy peezy.

I've only had one DCM ever have an issue with this but she was a 1st time mom and I was willing to let her go (she had been a current client then I had to start taking and picki my DD up to and from school) but it turned out that she didn't want to have to stop bringing DCB to me just because of transportation.

[momofsix]

This year I have no drop-offs/pick-ups at allhappyface My dh brings and picks up our daughters and my sa dc kids are either brought by their own parents or take a bus.
I have done it for years though. I dropped my own off at 8am, then did a pk p/u at 11:30 and then picked up my own again at 3:30. I REALLY didn't like that at all! I had 6 dc kids and loading them into and then back out again of their car seats was sch a pain. My hands were always sore b/c of how I had to buckle te car seats in so tightly-they would get scraped up all the time. For the pk run I had to park on the street blocks away and climb over snowbanks with all the kids to get to the sidewalk. I will never do that pk again-it was crazy
Our parents need to sign a permission slip allowing the children to ride in the car-and my insurance covered them.
I won't ever do 3 runs per day again. It was not worth it. I would be willing to do one per day with dc kids but prefer not to. It takes so much time our of our day. It is a huge relief to me not to do it anymore...and I'm dreading the day a parent comes with the request for me to do it again.

[countrymom]

that must **** for all you ladies, I can't believe you ladies don't have school busses that transport kids to school, I would not know what to do. Its bad enough I have to pick up late at school when they have activities.

[MarinaVanessa]

I chose to transport. Actually I chose to drive my DD to and from school. She wanted me to and I don't mind it at all so I chose to make the switch. I normally wouldn't offer transportation for DCF's or child care to SA's but because I started taking my DD to school and one of my DCF's had a DCG that's siblings with DCB that comes here (DD and DCG are friends) I didn't mind picking her up from school (and make extra $$) since it was on my way over. Different strokes right?

[lil angels]

I could never I drive a truck it has four doors it Icahn only get three in the back. I don't know what I would do without a bus. Even my ds takes a bus to pre school three days a week.

[JJPlaycare]

How many kids and what type of vehicle are you guys driving to do this? Sounds like alot of work

[Jenniferdawn]

I have a Toyota Sienna and transport my daughter and one dcg to school. I think its a royal pain personally to load all the kids up twice if not more every day. It messes with napping etc. and once this dcg is gone I will not offer transportation any more, though I will still need to take my kiddos to school. I have added insurance on top of my regular insurance (another $14 a month) for my car. I have also had parents not want me as a daycare because I transport. But at the same time, I love that the ones I have can be in the car cause I like the freedom to go on field trips. We have a lot of fun things planned for the kids this summer! But it does limit the number of kids I can take. I can only fit 7 passengers in my car. With my own two little ones, that limits me to 5 daycare kids.

[AnneCordelia]

I have two (soon to be three) school age children of my own.

I have a Runabout stroller that seats 5 and the DCKS and I do the school walk twice a day together. Our school is only just over a mile away, so we do a total of 4.2 miles a day on foot.

Ties into the 'how do you lose weight while doing daycare' thread because I can't seem to keep weight on while pushing the 5 seat stroller 4 miles a day!

[Kiki]

I have two (soon to be three) school age children of my own.

I have a Runabout stroller that seats 5 and the DCKS and I do the school walk twice a day together. Our school is only just over a mile away, so we do a total of 4.2 miles a day on foot.

Ties into the 'how do you lose weight while doing daycare' thread because I can't seem to keep weight on while pushing the 5 seat stroller 4 miles a day!

That thing has got to be heavy! Holy cow!

We transport once in a great moon, I provide all the car seats when I do, but I would prefer not to ever do it. It's the risk that scares me the most honestly.
I agree with maybe finding a parent at the school that would be willing to help out with drop-offs, maybe you'll luck out and there is someone right around the corner that you just don't know about!

[proudmommyofthree]

I also have a consent form that all parents must sign. I have a high schooler that I transport to and from school. All my families know that they must arrive by 7am or I will not be home from 7am to 7:30. My daughters high school is about 6 miles, but must get on the freeway to get to her school. I also then drop off 5 other daycare kids including my own at 8;45am then again another kinder at 11:10. I then pick up all the after school kids with my 3 little daycare kids and my 4 year old son at 3:00. I then head straight out to pick up my daughter at the high school. Wow that sounds like a lot of work LOL. But it's how I run my daycare. Clients know at the interviews that I do drop off and pick ups at the local school where my children attend.

Now I have a 15 passanger van, insured and a clean record. I have 3 kids of my own. 2 are in school.

My youngest will start a transitional kinder program they offer here in cali but is a little further away. By then I should have my large daycare license and a helper.

Sorry to steal your thread, , just wanted to you to know that it can work and parents will be ok. Just make sure they sign that consent!

[MarinaVanessa]

How many kids and what type of vehicle are you guys driving to do this? Sounds like alot of work

M-W-F I I have 7 kids including my 2 kids. T-Th I only have 5 including my 2 kids. I also drive a Toyota Sienna and in all honesty I don't think of it as a lot of work. I set up the carseats the way that I do to make it easier on myself.

The 3 carseats in the 3rd row are all cable strapped to the backseat and all 3 are convertable infant/toddler seats which kids from as little as infants to the time that they grow into a booster can use. Of course they are all forward facing and so I only put the 2+ kids in those seats. All of these are also harness carseats so I don't have to mess with the back row's real seat-belts at all.

In the 2nd row near the passenger side door (2 automatic sliding doors) sits my DS carseat (rear-facing at the moment because he's only 1 1/2). I have him there because I always have my DS with me so it's easier to have him close to that door all of the time to get him in and out. Then a booster seat in the middle and a 2nd booster seat closest to the driver side. I'm a small girl so it's easy for me to push the seats where the boosters are forward and hop in the back to strap the kids in the back.

On days that I have 7 kids total my DD will sit in the front seat in her own booster seat (I turn the airbag off) on the way home. It's really not that hard and it takes me about 5-6 minutes to load all the kids in and strap them in. Getting them out takes less time.